5.2 Vibrating string: speed of wave propagation If standing waves are set up when two travelling waves moving in opposite directions interact, then how are standing waves set up on a string and why are they set up only at certain frequencies? To help answer these questions, I want you first to imagine a length of string that is fixed at one end and held in someone's hand at the other. Suppose the person holding the string flicks their end of the string in such a way that an upward pulse is sent along the string. As the pulse pa
3.6 Learning and effective action I claim that learning is about effective action. It is distinguished when I, or another observer, recognise that I can perform what I was unable to perform before. Following Reyes and Zarama (1998), I am going to claim learning is an assessment made by an observer based on observed capacity for action. From this perspective, learning is not about ideas stored in our mind, but about action. So what makes an action effective? Reyes and Zarama (1998, p. 26) make the following claims: 9.9 Perspectives review Just as you were completing your rich picture, I asked you to identify and record any stakeholdings, thinking, feelings, and views about what to do. In the next activity, I invite you to do a similar exercise based on where you are now. I then want you to re-examine the notes and compare the earlier perspective against your current perspective. Expect to spend about half an hour on this activity. 9.8 Diagramming a complex situation Diagrams are never an end in themselves. They have a purpose. They exist in relation to a situation and can be used to cast light upon aspects of that situation or to explain it to someone. So, the next step is to look at the diagrams you have drawn and to ask yourself what you have learned about the situation. This answer may be in terms of a deeper appreciation of the situation. It may also be in terms of pointers towards possible interventions and some idea of the likely effects of s 7.2.5 Trap 5: the final version trap Ironically, the biggest mistake you can make, having got this far, is to assume your picture is finished. New realisations will crop up. Add these to your picture as you appreciate more and more of the complexity. So, the check for avoiding this trap is to ask: Have I had any new insights about the complex situation since I last added something to this picture? 2.2 The nature of systems thinking and systems practice There are no simple definitions for either systems thinking or systems practice. It's difficult to find definitions that capture all the perspectives that the ideas carry for people who think of themselves as systems thinkers and systems practitioners. Most systems practitioners seem to experience the same kind of difficulty in explaining what they do or what it means to be systemic in their thinking. Through experience I've developed some criteria by which I characterise systems thinking, bu 18.2.1 Relative advantage In order to succeed, an innovation has to be perceived as offering advantages relative to existing comparable products or services. For example, it has more chance of selling if it is cheaper to make and buy, does the job better or does something previously not possible, offers more features, is easier to use, or is reliable and safe. Relative advantage is sometimes called competitive advantage. A good example is how the steady reduction in size and increase in efficiency of the electri 12.4 Coupling model There are examples where either technology or the market appears to be more significant in stimulating invention but the majority of innovations involve a creative coupling of technological and market factors. In some respects successful innovation is a case of the survival of the fittest. Failure can come both from not getting the technology right and from misjudging the market. Success is more likely if the focus is not too one-dimensional but rather a balance between technology and market 11.7 Characteristics of inventors In their classic book The Sources of Invention (1969) John Jewkes, David Sawers and Richard Stillerman observe the following about inventors, whether working outside or inside an organisation. Inventors tend to be absorbed with their own ideas and to feel strongly about their importance and potential. Inventors can be impatient with those who don't share their optimism. Inventors are often isolated because they are 1.2.9 Reading diagrams: questioning what they say With each of these diagrams and others we are trying to read there is another set of more searching questions we can ask: What is the purpose of the diagram, i.e. what is it aiming to tell us? How is the information imparted? What assumptions does it make about our ability to understand it? What are we expected to remember from it? How successful is 5.9 Membrane filtration Membrane filtration is a process whereby particles smaller than about 10−2 mm (which can pass through sand filters) are removed using synthetic polymeric membranes and a high pressure. The membrane effectively acts as a sieve. It is increasingly becoming popular as an advanced treatment process for water (especially for removal of Cryptosporidium) and wastewater (where water reuse takes place), and various possibilities are: Module team Andy Lane, author Mary Thorpe, author John Martin, course chair, Amber Eves, course manager Mandy Anton, graphic designer Susan Carr, critical reader Tony Duggan, project controller (Technology) Eion Farmer, critical reader Clive Fetter, editor Jim Frederickson, critical reader Pip Harris, compositor Caryl Hunter-Brown, subject information specialist John Naughton, critical reader Pat Shah, course secretary Ro 4 Introduction (Please refer to Reading 4: Learning to act: managing and systems practice, by Andy Lane) This unit teaches some aspects of systems thinking and practice. But what does it mean to be a systems practitioner, and is it different to being a manager? This reading attempts to answer those questions. First, I believe a good systems practitioner will be more competent at handling complex situations, more capable of managing their working and domestic lives, and more able to learn not only how 3.3.3 Reassembling the parts As the wreckage was pulled from the river it was examined and identified, and any failures of the metal components were recognised and tagged. This was a mammoth task, given that virtually the whole bridge had fallen into the water, including all the road decks, trusses, chains and hangers, eye bars and the two towers. The parts were then reassembled and all the failed or fractured components photographed and catalogued. Over 90 per cent of the bridge components were collected together and re 3.2 The disaster The 39-year-old Silver Bridge collapsed suddenly at about 5 p.m. on 15 December 1967 when the roadway was filled with rush-hour traffic – 37 vehicles were trapped on the roadway. The first signs of collapse were later recounted by the survivors. Many occupants of the cars on the bridge had felt it ‘quivering’ before it fell. Most witnesses had then heard ‘cracking’ or ‘popping’ noises, some saying that it sounded like a ‘shotgun blast’. After this, the bridge started d 3.2 The uses of genre There are two central uses of genre for any writer: You might wish to write within a particular Author(s): 7.3 ‘Insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ The claim that it is possible to study religion adequately from a disinterested position has been hotly debated. Can the understanding of the observer achieve the same level of insight and authority as the participant in a religion? No serious student of religion can avoid confronting this question. The ‘outsider’ cannot escape depending to an extent upon insights from ‘insiders’ when studying a particular religion. An ‘outsider’ who has never been through a particular ritua 7.1 Some basic principles of religious studies Remember that in Section 4 I suggested that possible reasons for studying religion could be clustered together under two broad headings: to understand the society in which we live, the culture we inherit and the wider world of which we are a part; as part of a personal quest for religious 6.1 Introduction Whatever else they may be, religions grow in historical and social settings. The present form of a religion has its roots in the past. Religion can exercise a strong influence upon society and the cultural forms of a society, but religion itself is no less affected by changes and pressures within society. Religion gives meaning to a pattern of living and may even be responsible for establishing a certain lifestyle or distinctive social organisation or institution. At the same time, religion o 5.5 Common sense and analysis Faced with the choice between narrow substantive definitions and broad functional definitions, we should require any definition to ‘fit with broad common-sense reflection’ and ‘encompass what ordinary people mean when they talk of religion’ (Bruce, 1995, p. ix). The definition must also assist in the analysis and explanation of what is being studied. For these reasons, Steve Bruce, who is a leading sociologist of religion, opts for the following substantive defini
